Aegri Somnia
by loathsome child
Summary: A Naruto/Death Note cross-over. There are three people that L will never forget, no matter how hard he tries. BB, Light Yagami, and now, Uchiha Itachi. Three-shot. Itachi/L.
1. Black Sheep Effect

_Now listen,__  
Please listen,  
Understand what I say...._

Looking back, they were nothing alike.

The three people who had managed to stand out among the countless other criminals L had caught and convicted. The first one had been Beyond Birthday. He was a mirror image of L himself, an L that could or might have been. He was also the single remaining thread that tied L to his childhood. L was a detective who needed to quickly analyze large amounts of information in very little time. There was no need for irrelevant information, and there were certainly no need for emotions. L was a genius at forgetting. He needed to forget, he forced himself to do so. But when the murders sprang up across Los Angeles it was like the past had slapped him in the face. And there was B again, just as he remembered.

Beyond was a man of forethought, each murder carefully constructed, each clue intentionally placed. He liked games because he liked the adrenaline. Weaving the web around your enemy and never really knowing, but knowing enough. He liked games even more because he liked winning, so he didn't bother to be very subtle in his motives. It was more fun when the victims were able to catch on and play along too, because playing alone is never really much fun. But he was a wild, aggressive man, and therefore unpredictable in his actions. L had won of course. He had always been number one back in Wammy's House. It had never really been much of a question, who would come out on top (although B claimed he had never been submissive to even a traffic signal). In the end B's actions were really nothing more than a desperate plea for attention from the man he had obsessed over, leaving L just a little disappointed. And then, in an outstanding display of irony, B had been killed by Light and his Death Note.

Light was the second person who still haunted L's dreams. He had been the child of middle-upper class parents, another genius of self-righteous satisfaction. He was also the most arrogant person L had ever met (After all, L had been Justice, but Light, Light was God). Light was the self-restrained type, carefully in control, proper and polite. Nobody really knew his true nature, although few ever really wondered over it. L was the one who had seen the most of Light's true personality, although he certainly hadn't asked for the privilege or so desired of it.

Sometimes L felt like he had failed in some way. B and Light were the closest he had ever been to anyone, and oh, it really was a paradox when he thought about it. Because although it was his _job_ to prove them guilty of their crimes, sometimes he felt like he was just damning them straight to hell. If they were friends... could he save them? Was it okay not to be alone? Maybe it was because he saw good in them... maybe he really did. But deep down L knew it was only for himself that he'd wanted B and Light to not be so _evil_. But the law is the law and L always stops at traffic lights, so he continued his tired old work. And sure enough, L came out on top. He didn't intend for Light to die. Dying is the easy way out and L needed to lock Light up where he could always keep an eye on him, and maybe they could talk sometimes. But Light was killed by Ryuuk, and so the chain of death continued.

And now L is staring at the third person to have stood out, across a monitor. Except unlike B and Light, he is still very much alive and unbroken. His name is Uchiha Itachi, and he has red eyes. They're somewhat disturbing, but it's nothing new to L after B's eyes. (He's a genius at forgetting they say, but in reality he will never forget that face). L clicks on the speaker. Itachi is in a cell in part of L's investigative building, much like the one Light stayed in for those fifty or so days. They seem so long ago now...

"Itachi-kun..."

Itachi looks up at the camera in the corner of his cell, where he knows L is watching him. "Ryuuzaki," he says in return.

"Itachi-kun must not like his family," L says, cutting straight to the point. There really isn't any need for a "how's it going?" and L isn't one for pleasantries.

"What makes you say that Ryuuzaki?"

L puts a thumbnail to his lips, watching the Uchiha's empty, expressionless face with frightening intensity.

"You killed them, Itachi-kun, have you forgotten?"

"No, I remember quite well."

"Is that a confession?" L deadpans.

"Yes Ryuuzaki. I believe we've been over this before."

And they have, nearly every day for the past month and a half, sometimes even as frequently as twice a day. It's always the same routine, the conversation ending after Itachi has confessed. Obviously though, L isn't satisfied with just a confession. The teen is guilty with or without one anyway. Because Itachi did not even try to cover up his crime. No, L doesn't need to be a genius to figure out Itachi is the one guilty of the vicious massacre of his family and friends. It is starkly, eerily obvious. So startlingly blatant that it _has_ to mean something. It had, however, taken a genius to track down Itachi's location and bring him here. There was an irony in the way Itachi was so eager to take credit for his actions but so quick to disappear when such actions might hold repercussions. The irony does not escape L's attention. All criminals are like that, never willing to take responsibly for their actions.

L sighs. Usually now he clicks off the speaker, grabs something sweet from the fridge (because everything else in this world is so bitter), and wanders off to sit in front of his laptop somewhere. L thinks best in front of laptops, late at night, and badly craving sleep. Usually he mulls over any of his current cases, but recently he has found himself becoming more and more fascinated with Itachi. And L doesn't like to admit it, but these thoughts rarely have to do with the case anymore. It's those sanguine eyes, the pupils like spinning commas. They're beautiful, like B. It's so hard to forget.

_But today… today isn't going to be like other days._


	2. Scapegoat

_Conceal me what I am, and be my aid__  
For such disguise as haply shall become  
The form of my intent. _

"Itachi-kun," L says. "Where were you on August twelfth, four years ago?"

"With the rest of my family, in our house," Itachi deadpans. His face is still expressionless, but he seems about ready to let out an exasperated sigh.

"This is difficult to believe, Itachi-kun, that on the day before the massacre you were doing nothing other than sitting in your house."

"How so?" Itachi asks, and L scoffs. L knows he's beating a dead horse, that in the course of only a day it is extremely unlikely that what he hears from Itachi will differ from what he heard yesterday. Although that hardly discourages him, he's much too confident in his abilities for that, and besides, L lives for challenges.

"I find it unlikely that you weren't... making preparations," L answers.

"_Making preparations?_" It is Itachi's turn to scoff. The small display of emotion satisfies L greatly. "No," Itachi continues, "I can assure that all preparations had already been made."

"Is that so?" L intones, a tone of disbelief eminent in his voice. "By whom?"

From his cell, Itachi stares into the blinking red light of the camera. His face appears on the monitor, all creamy white skin and dark, pronounced bags under his eyes, capable of challenging even L's decrepit appearance. L zooms the camera until there is nothing visible on the monitor except two towering, red eyes encircling misshapen pupils. L notes his suspect's long, delicate eyelashes and the beginnings of gently arched eyebrows that are still visible on the monitor. Some of Itachi's hair, having long ago fallen into disarray, hangs down distractingly in front of his face. On instinct, L reaches up and pushes his own furious black hair out of his eyes.

L hears Itachi's voice float out like a disembodied ghost from the speaker, but does not move his gaze from the teen's eyes. Eyes, L thinks, are marvelously useful things. They tell the truth most sincerely, despite the lies of their owners.

"Myself," Itachi says seriously. He doesn't blink."How many confessions do you need, Ryuuzaki?"

L pops a candy into his mouth. He rolls it around on his tongue, deliberately considering the flavor before answering.

"Just one honest one, Itachi-kun."

Itachi's eyes narrow minutely for a fraction of a second. L is glad he still has the camera zoomed into Itachi's face, otherwise he would have missed it entirely.

"My honesty is ineffective if you are so set on not believing me in the first place."

L pokes a thumb into his mouth and swirls the candy around with it, waiting for Itachi to continue.

"Your expectations distort your thinking, Ryuuzaki. You simply do not _want_ to believe that I am telling the truth."

L turns this over in his mind, still regarding Itachi's eyes steadily. He is forced to acknowledge that there is logic in what the teen is saying, his practical mind won't allow him not to. But his gut feeling seems convinced that there is something he is not seeing under the surface, the information just doesn't add up. There is no way one _child_ was capable of orchestrating and performing a massacre of such scale in such a short amount of time. (Although L has learned not to underestimate children. Light was a child as well, after all.) Criminals are usually not so ready to take complete responsibility for their crimes; to confess and confess again, knowing they will be judged guilty. As well as the fact that L managed to track down and capture Itachi in the first place. It had been difficult, but something about it had been too _easy_, too _orchestrated_. As if Itachi had allowed himself to be caught on purpose.

He is covering up for somebody, or something, L thinks. Being used as the sacrificial lamb, the red herring to distract from the real perpetrators of the crime.

Cutting to the chase is nearly inevitable. L is a man of limited patience, after all, especially when things aren't going his way. L zooms the camera back out so that he can now see Itachi and the entire cell in the monitor. He doesn't need to see the suspect's eyes anymore to determine truth from lies.

"Who are you working for, Itachi-kun?"

The teen smirks, all superiority and smugness, and L is reminded forcibly of Light. He remains silent though.

"I take it then, that you are working under someone else's instructions?"

Itachi shakes his head, the smile fading from his lips as quickly as it came. "I did it because I wanted to see what I was truly capable of. I'm sure, Ryuuzaki, that you can understand. Have you never wished to test your limits, to discover the extent of your own genius?"

L chews his lip, eying the dark haired teen from across the screen. "No," he says. "That would be a frightening thing."

"A true genius is not held back by something as trivial as _fear_," Itachi sneers.

"That may very well be true, but it is arbitrary, and I believe you have reasons that you are still not sharing with me. Be assured that if I did not think this you would already have been put to death."

"I am afraid that I am not in the least bit threatened," Itachi says.

"It wasn't a threat, Itachi-kun," L intones tiredly. "It was simply the truth, although I understand how you may have misinterpreted it. The truth is, after all, not a familiar subject to you."

Itachi sneers again, and the motion surprises L. The teen does not seem like the type to give way to a facial expression in the midst of an interrogation. Unless...

"Indeed," Itachi agrees.

_He's mocking me_, L thinks, the realization sending something like shivers down his back. _He's enjoying this_.

"Ryuuzaki," Itachi's voice floats through the speaker, firm and commanding. L snaps his head up in surprise, redirecting his attention back to the monitor. "This has been fun, but I'm afraid I can no longer afford to be wasting my time."

L stares. "Pardon me?"

Except he is staring at nothing. Itachi is no longer visible anywhere inside the cell. L lets out a low string of curses. He turns on a different speaker, one designed to reach Watari at any given time.

"Watari-" L begins desperately. He is cut short as a large shadow falls over the bright light of the glowing, neon monitors. L turns around in time for a pale, silky hand to wrap its way around his neck.

_And you're so beautiful when you're one step away from the edge…_

_--  
_

**A/N**: The quote at the top is from Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_. I wasn't sure which day Itachi massacred his clan, so I took the liberty to make one up. Admitedly, this fic isn't going to have much of a point. Itachi/L has been a guilty pleasure I've been thinking about for quite some time, so I just decided to write a little something up.


End file.
